With his palms spanning her thighs, her supple body arched against his, there wasn’t enough breath to draw. He was drowning in her, in the feeling of her in his arms, in the feeling of her lips sucking his own, in the feeling of her warm skin, dragging him deeper and deeper.
His feet were moving before he even realized it. He sat on the porch swing he had prepared, taking her with him, her thighs now straddling his lap. He couldn’t have her close enough. His rough palms moved up, tracing her waist through the layers of clothing, and then her arms, before reaching her face, cradling it, unable to stop stroking her cheekbones with his thumbs and lightly grazing her full, bottom lip that seconds ago had clung to his. Her eyes were dark in the black of the night, their hazel color obscured and eaten up by her dilated pupils. Her glasses were slightly fogged up in their corners, and she had never looked more perfect.
He felt like a moth to a flame, a flame that burned bright, meant to consume him from the inside out. He was burning, slowly. Every moment he spent with her, she stole a piece of him.
He didn’t want those pieces back. They were hers to keep.
“It’s perfect,” she whispered, reminding him of the question he had asked her a few minutes or eons earlier.
You’re perfect, he wanted to tell her, but settled for, “I’m glad,” while brushing away a few curls that had escaped her bun. There would be time to tell her everything later. “I thought the night would be clear enough to stargaze before the countdown started. I used to do that a lot growing up, looking up at the stars at the end of each year and wish for impossible things,” he said in a hushed voice. Staring down at her though, Nate found it hard to think of something to wish for.
She smiled at him in the most Madison way possible and slowly resettled herself until she was sitting sideways, her legs spread over his thighs, nestled in his arms, her face nuzzling his neck, the soft blanket shielding them both from the cold.
***
From somewhere inside the house, the faraway voice of a TV anchor was signaling the beginning of the countdown.
Ten
They both stretched their gaze towards the dark, open sky.
Nine
A few snow flurries danced in the chilly breeze.
Eight
Nate pulled the blanket tighter against their tangled legs.
Seven
Muffled cheers had already started to sound from distant houses.
Six
Nate and Maddy turned to look at each other sharing a private, secret smile.
Five
Their breaths were indistinguishable as they fused in a puffy, white cloud.
Four
Their eyes locked, time suspended.
Three
Nate’s arms tightened around Maddy, as if terrified she’d slip away.
Two
Maddy burrowed deeper in the set of arms that had kept her safe all along.
One
Maddy wished she would never forget this.
She closed her eyes as darkness pulled her under.
